PAPILIO. 



P. Turnus, P. Calchas, and some of their allies, have the prothoracic segment small ; the two or three following very 

 much larger, one or more of them marked with an ocellated spot ; the rest gradually tapering to the extremity. These 

 have the power of retracting the head and prothorax into the two following segments, as is the case in the larva? of 

 some Sphingida;. They are mostly green with white markings, and feed on Laurinea; and Aurantiacea 1 , especially the 

 latter, though some species are found on Drupacese and Juglandea?. 



Closely allied to these are the somewhat limaciform larva; of P. Marcellus, P. Sarpedon, and P. Podalirius. These com- 

 monly have the fourth segment the largest, and taper slightly to each extremity. They are generally of a pale colour, 

 and have often a green or dark blue band across the shoulders. They seem partial to Anonacese and Drupaceoa. 



The larva; of our only well authenticated British species, P. Machaon, and of its allies, which mostly live on 

 Umbelliferae, are nearly cylindrical, generally of a bright green, with black transverse bands, dotted with red or 

 yellow. 



The general habits of the larva; in this genus are solitary : but it contains one group, composed of species peculiar 

 to the wanner parts of America, distinguished by their general black colour, and the rose-coloured, crimson, or 

 beautifully opalescent markings of their posterior wings ; the larva; of which are gregarious, living in societies on 

 the Aurantiacea;. They are said to possess a very disagreeable odour; and, if we can trust to Stoll's figure, in one 

 species, P. Hippason, the prothoracic tentacula, or osmatcria, are largely developed. These larva; are nearly 

 cylindrical, slightly tuberculatcd, and generally variegated with brown and white, resembling in many respects that of 

 P. Cresphontes Cram., which commonly lives also on the orange, though it is not confined to the Aurantiacea;, for I 

 have found it in East Florida on Xanthoxylon fraxiueum. 



The larva of P. dissimilis is singularly beautiful. The prothoracic segment is square, with the anterior angles 

 slightly produced. The five following segments have each two short curved horns, directed forward on each side ; 

 all the following segments have a single horn on each side pointing backward. The ground colour is olive, with 

 numerous crimson and black spots, and longitudinal yellow markings. The horns are black. 



In P. Philenor, P. Crassus, and their allies, the larva;, which feed on Aristolochia; and Aurantiacea;, are brown 

 or purplish, with numerous tubercles, which, on the anterior and posterior segments, are prolonged into horns. 



The Pup^e, like the larva;, vary much in form. Those of P. Hector and P. Diphilus arc tuberculatcd, and have 

 transverse elevated ridges on the abdominal segments, which give them a singularly distorted appearance. These pupa; 

 are brown. Those of P. Polymncstor, P. Memnon, and P. Pammon, are green, smooth, much bent, the head divided 

 into two acute spines. P. Calchas has a pupa of similar form, but less bent, and with the head less acutely bifid. 

 That of P. Turnus is rough, with a blunt tubercle on the back, and the head obtusely bifid. In that of P. Sarpedon 

 there is a long horn-like tubercle, arising from the back of the thoracic portion, and produced forward. The head is 

 truncate. Those of P. Ajax, P. Marcellus, and P. Antiphatcs, and it is said, also, that of P. Crassus, offer a similar, 

 but less developed, structure. Those of P. Machaon and P. Asterias are angular, scarcely tuberculate ; that of P. 

 dissimilis is elongate, sub-cylindrical, with the head deeply notched. Stoll represents the pupa of P. Amosis with the 

 head notched, and the back furnished with a rough tubercle : a form much resembling thai, of P. Cresphontes Cram. 



Little is known of the habits of the Perfect Insects, except of the two common European species. Beske's remarks 

 in Silberman's Revue Entomologique on those of Brazil, Lacordaire's in the Annals of the French Entomological Society 

 on those of Cayenne, a few scattered notes on other American and some few Indian species, make nearly the sum of 

 what has been published on this head. 



In general they are insects of rapid and powerful flight ; but the large group, of which P. Polymetus and P. Idasus 

 may be considered the types, are said to be slow and rather weak. P. Ajax, P. Marcellus, P. Protesilaus, and their 

 allies, have a low, rapid, unsteady flight, generally amongst the scattered brushwood on the skirts of forests, or in old 

 neglected plantations. They take long circuits, returning after the lapse of a few minutes in the same direction, and 

 often in precisely the same track they have just passed over. I have often, in the old cotton-fields of East Florida, 

 waited by the side of a large bush of some Vaccinium, or Andromeda, for a specimen of P. Ajax, which I had 

 seen pass it ; and my patience in remaining quiet for a few minutes, has mostly been rewarded by its capture. 



P. Marcellus, P. Troilus, P. Protesilaus, P. Turnus, and some other species, are fond of alighting by the side of 

 springs, or where a little water-course crosses a high road, and may then be captured with ease. 



P. Cresphontes, and its southern ally, P. Thoas, have a powerful and bold flight, sailing along with their wings 

 expanded. They are fond of alighting on the end of a dead twig, and do not then close their wings, but rather let them 



Deremher, 1846\ 



